It’s now €500 more expensive to run a car than last year

PETROL and diesel prices are heading for record monthly highs despite the recent move by the Government to cut the excise duty on the fuels.

The surge in motor fuel prices has added €500 to the cost of running a typical car since last year.

The cost of diesel has shot up by 37.5pc since last year, with petrol 26.5pc more expensive than in 2021, according to the latest fuel prices survey from AA Ireland.

Despite a reduction in duties on fuel, the average price of diesel now stands at 194.6c per litre.

Petrol is now at 191.9c on average.

Some premium diesel products are costing motorists over €2 per litre as crude oil prices have gone past $110 per barrel.

In March, Finance Minister Pascal Donohue announced a temporary reduction in the excise duties on petrol and diesel.

Excise was reduced by 20c per litre on petrol, and 15c per litre on diesel.

Most of these reductions have broadly been wiped out due to increasing oil prices, said head of communications for AA Ireland Paddy Comyn.

He said the cost of running a car is now significantly higher than last year.

At the current petrol price, it costs, on average almost €2,000 per year just to fuel a diesel car.

This is €530 more than last year.

The annual cost of putting fuel in a petrol car is now €2,300, over €480 per year more than last year, Mr Comyn said.

He said recent reductions to the cost of public transport are very welcome and should be availed of by those that can, but there remain many people without a proper alternative to their car.

The war in Ukraine is being blamed for the spike in fuel prices.

Mr Comyn warned that fuel prices were likely to continue to rise for the foreseeable future.

It comes as Ireland faces the highest inflation rate in decades.

Chief executive of Fuels for Ireland Kevin McPartlan said the Russian invasion of Ukraine was at the heart of soaring prices.

His organisation represents Irish companies that import, refine, distribute and market liquid fuels.

“The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is still having a massive impact on the price of fuels paid by consumers,” he said.

“As companies and governments impose restrictions on Russian imports, fuel supply lines are tightening, while demand is driven higher by some electricity generators in the EU switching from Russian gas to oil for their power stations.

“The impact is most severe on home-heating oil because a far higher proportion of the price paid by consumers is made up of the costs of the stock, whereas about 80c per litre of the pump price for road transport fuels goes straight to the Government,” Mr McPartlan said.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show the annual rate of price growth in the Irish economy was 7pc last month after surges in energy, fuel and grocery prices.